


I Like You Too

by orphan_account



Category: Breaking Benjamin (Band), STARSET (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8032615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Person B really wants to kiss Person A, but they can’t get Person A alone to do so. B finally gets A alone, and kisses ensue (plus cuddles).





	I Like You Too

It wasn’t Dustin’s fault that he really wanted to kiss Ben Burnley, okay?

 

Okay maybe it partially was, but he’d had a crush on the guy for forever.

 

(At least, it felt like forever…)

 

But it didn’t help that Ben just had one of those really kissable looking mouths, and okay, maybe he  _ was _ in a little too deep…

 

But it’s not like Dustin could  _ do _ anything about it anyways; Ben always seemed to be around other people, whether it was his own bandmates or not. Dustin couldn’t very well make his move with all those people around. 

 

He was currently sitting in Breaking Ben’s bus, nursing some kind of alcoholic beverage that Shaun had made him. Knowing Shaun, it was probably 90% alcohol and 10% whatever soda he’d mixed it with, so Dustin was trying to drink it slowly. He didn’t really want to be drunk because he always felt bad for Ben being the only sober person between his own band and Dustin’s. He looked over at the other singer, who was sitting on the couch, looking at his phone. Gathering his courage (helped by the fact that he was slightly tipsy off half a damn drink holy shit Shaun what had he put IN this drink?), Dustin moved to sit next to Ben, nudging his shoulder gently. Ben looked up with a slight smile.

 

“Hey Dustie, what’s up?”

 

“Just came over to keep you company.” Dustin shrugged. “You looked lonely over here all by your lonesome.”

 

“Well, aren’t you sweet? Thanks, I appreciate it.” Ben grinned and Dustin flushed a little, feeling like he was under a damn spotlight with how bright that smile was. “Hey, wanna go sit outside? It’s fuckin’ hot in here.”

 

“Uh, s-sure!” Dustin managed, setting his cup aside and getting up to follow Ben off the bus. Apparently he was a little more tipsy than he’d originally thought, because he nearly tripped getting out. Ben steadied him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

 

“You alright there?”

 

“I’m fine. Shaun made my drink and I think it was stronger than I thought.”

 

“That’s sounds like Shaun alright. The other guys have taken to telling him that it’s supposed to be a shot or two of alcohol and the rest soda, not the other way around.” 

 

“Yeah, I think that’s what happened here.” Dustin used this excuse to “accidentally” sway a little and lean against Ben’s shoulder. “Oops, sorry.” Ben had caught his shoulder again to steady him and the older singer was warm where Dustin was pressed up against him. The younger man shivered slightly and felt Ben’s arm squeeze around his shoulders. 

 

“Are you cold? I guess it’s a bit more chilly out here than I thought.” Before Dustin could say anything, there was suddenly a jacket around his shoulders. He startled slightly and reached up to pull it further around himself.

 

“Better?” Ben asked and he looked so damn concerned and fond and shit, his eyes were really pretty this close up. Dustin didn’t respond, just leaned up a little bit, hoping…

 

And the door to the bus slammed open revealing a very drunk Shaun and Keith.

 

“Oh there you guys are! We were all wondering where you got to!” Dustin hurriedly jerked away from Ben before the other two could notice how close they were.

 

“Yeah, we were out here where it’s  _ quiet _ ,” Ben said pointedly, glaring at his bandmates. When Shaun and Keith went back inside, cackling, Ben turned to Dustin with an apologetic look on his face.

 

“Sorry about them. What were you saying now?”

 

“Oh...nothing…”

~~~

The next time it happened, they were meeting at a restaurant for a really really late dinner. They were at a 24 hour IHOP because Dustin had mentioned pancakes for a really late dinner, and Ben had gotten really excited.

 

That was, Dustin figured, how you knew you’d been on the road for too long…

 

Anyways, it was  _ meant _ to be only him and Ben. No one in Starset had wanted to be torn away from the shitty horror movie they were watching, and no one in Breaking Benjamin had wanted to go anyways.

 

So Dustin had been super excited about his and Ben’s “date”, even though Ben didn’t technically know that he was considering it a date.

 

They’d gotten their food and of course, Ben’s food looked way too good to  _ not _ sneak a bite. Ben noticed too late and by the time he’d stabbed his fork at Dustin’s hand, the younger singer had already pulled away with a forkful of Ben’s pancakes.

 

“Hey, rude!” Ben protested. Dustin shoved the fork into his mouth obnoxiously and grinned.

 

“What, your food looked good; I had to try some.”

 

“Fine, give me some of yours,” Ben retorted.

 

“No way!”

 

“So you get to steal my food, but I can’t steal yours? That’s not fair!” Still, Ben tried to steal some of Dustin’s food but Dustin pulled his plate away, giggling. Ben rolled his eyes and went back to eating his own food, muttering something about “dumb scientists”.

 

“What was that? We’re you saying something about how I’m such a genius, both scientifically and musically? Why thank you, that’s very kind of you!” Dustin laughed when Ben kicked his shin lightly under the table. “Ow, jerk, you didn’t have to kick me!”

 

“I did, and I will again.” This time when he felt Ben’s foot move, Dustin caught it in between his shins, holding it captive by Ben’s ankle. “Hey!”

 

“There, now you can’t kick me.” 

Only now Ben brought his other foot up to catch one of Dustin’s ankles as well, giving it a sharp tug. And when Dustin flailed a bit, Ben used that as an opportunity to steal some of his food.

“Hey!”

“Now who’s the genius?” Ben said, smirking around his fork and shit, he really needed to  _ not _ do that because his mouth looked so great and-

Ben’s foot nudged his shin under the table again, gently this time and Dustin was pulled out of his thoughts to look at the older singer.

“Hey, don’t be mad Dustin, I was only teasing you. You stole some of my food so I think it’s only fair that I get even.”

“No it’s fine! I was just-”

“Just what?” Ben asked.

Oh, thinking how great your mouth looks and how much I want to kiss you.

Dustin blushed at his thoughts and shook his head.

“It’s nothing! I’m not mad at you okay?” And now Ben was smiling genuinely and he looked so damn cute. And they  _ were _ pretty much alone because it was like one AM in this IHOP, so no one would mind if Dustin just leaned forward and-

“Heyyyyy, figures you guys would be here! Dude, I told you they said they were going to IHOP!” Shaun slid into the booth next to Dustin and wrapped an arm around his shoulders and Aaron sat down next to Ben. 

“Hey guys, I thought you didn’t want to come!” Ben said with a grin.

“Yeah, well we wanted pancakes and Aaron didn’t believe me when I told him that you guys said you went to IHOP so here we are! We brought the rest of Starset too so we should move to a bigger booth.”

So they did, Dustin reluctantly being pulled along by Ron, and he didn’t even end up sitting next to Ben or anything, they were literally on opposite ends of the booth from each other. 

“What’s wrong dude, you look kind of down,” Brock whispered to him underneath everyone else’s talking and Dustin shook his head.

“It’s nothing. Just tired.”

“If you’re sure.” Brock rubbed Dustin’s shoulder and the singer grinned, leaning into the guitarist fondly, reaching up to ruffle Brock’s hair. 

But when Dustin glanced up between their horsing around, he happened to catch Ben’s eye and noticed that the older singer looked a little...jealous? 

But that was probably just Dustin projecting things onto Ben.

Ben wouldn’t be jealous of Brock being close to Dustin, would he? He had no reason to be.

Dustin simply reasoned that he was just in too deep with this stupid crush and that he was making things up.

~~~

Dustin was getting really fucking fed up.

Every time he got up the nerve to try and kiss Ben, someone just  _ had _ to walk in on them and spoil it. 

It had happened like three or four times now, and Dustin was just ready to give up on this stupid crush and this stupid mission to kiss Ben, because it just didn’t seem like the universe wanted it to happen. 

Dustin was just sulking around in the van while everyone else was out doing whatever on their day off. He hadn’t really felt like going with them, so he was just rolling around doing some writing.

But mostly he was just thinking about this stupid situation that he had found himself in.

And sulking, he was doing a lot of sulking.

He was getting pretty good at sulking these days…

Dustin had just rolled over to go grab a drink or something and startled so hard that he nearly fell off of the couch. Ben was leaning against the doorway, looking smug at Dustin’s flailing. 

“Jesus  _ christ _ , don’t scare me like that!” the younger singer protested, composing himself and standing up. “Where’d you come from?”

“My bus. Outside,” Ben said simply, unfolding his arms and pulling away from the doorframe. He stalked over to stand over Dustin, who glanced up at him. 

“What?”

“Just wondering what you’ve been up to all day. I didn’t see you with the rest of your band so I was curious. Not feeling well or something?”

Damn it, why did Ben insist on being so concerned and cute?

“Nah, I’m fine, I just didn’t feel like going with. Doing some writing instead. Sit down, you’re so damn tall hovering over me like that.”

Ben laughed and sat down next to Dustin, rather closer than he needed to in Dustin’s opinion. The younger singer could feel the heat of Ben’s leg where it was brushing against his own. 

“So can I see what you’ve been working on?”

“No! Would you let  _ me _ see what you’ve been working on?”

“No, I guess not,” Ben mused.

“Well then why-?” Dustin cut himself off laughing and leaned his head against Ben’s shoulder. “You’re so weird.”

“You still like me though right?” Ben asked and Dustin’s head shot up from his shoulder.

“Wh-what?”

“You’ll still be my friend right? Even though I’m ‘weird’?” Ben made sarcastic little “quotes” with his fingers and Dustin snorted even though his heart felt like it was going at a million beats per second.

He’d thought Ben meant…

The younger singer shook his head slightly. Ben didn’t think of him like that, Dustin was sure of it. It was only Dustin who had this  _ stupid _ crush…

“Good, I’m glad. That means we can watch a movie right?”

“Is that why you came over? To steal our TV?”

“Well....sort of. It was mostly because I wanted to see if you were okay. Ron was saying you’ve been kind of a hermit lately.”

_ Yeah, because every time I hang out with you, I want to kiss you and then something ruins that… _

“Mostly?” Dustin said aloud.

“And because Shaun and Keith are watching stupid movies and won’t let anyone else have the TV.”

“Ahhh, the truth comes out,” Dustin teased and Ben bopped him on the shoulder. “Ow, asshole!”

“I really was worried about you, okay? That was the main reason.”

“Yeah, uh huh.” But Dustin could feel himself blushing, hid it by getting up to fetch the remote. “I’ll let you choose the movie, mister picky.” 

“How kind of you.” Ben snagged the remote from Dustin’s hand, leaning back so that he was even closer to the younger singer, scrolling through the movies that they had recorded. Dustin leaned into Ben’s warm side, pulling the blanket that he’d had on his lap over them both. 

“Really, Star Wars again?” 

“Yes, Star Wars again. Hey, you told me that I could pick the movie!” Ben defended himself when Dustin leveled a glare at him. “You brought this on yourself.”

So Dustin snuggled down to watch Star Wars for the millionth time (he really didn’t want to know how many times Ben had watched the many movies in this damn franchise), pulling the blanket up to his chin and resting his head on Ben’s shoulder. 

“Oh are we snuggling now?” Ben teased, but Dustin just nodded.

“Yeah...I’m tired so I’ve decided to use you for a pillow.”

“I guess I can deal with that.” 

After a couple more minutes, Dustin took a steadying breath.

“Hey Ben?”

“Hmmm?” Ben was absorbed in the movie, but Dustin felt like he needed to say this now or he was never going to say it ever. 

“I...uh...like you…”

“I like you too man,” Ben said amicably. 

“No, not like that,” Dustin said frustratedly. “I  _ like _ like you. As more than a friend.”

There was a long moment of silence during which Dustin had several minor heart attacks.

“Ben?”

“What?” The older singer looked down over at him. “Sorry, sorry, what did you say?”

“Oh for God’s sake.” With that, Dustin simply leaned up and kissed Ben hard on the mouth, hands coming up to grip at his shirt. There were several days worth of frustration in that kiss, and Dustin figured that even if Ben rejected him, at least he could say he’d done and tried.

When Dustin pulled away, both of them breathing slightly harder than before, Ben just stared at him.

“Uh…”

“I love you, you idiot. That’s what I was trying to say, but you had to be all distracted by your damn movie, so I figured the best way to tell you was to just go for it. I’ve had this dumb crush on you for  _ months _ now, and I just never got the opportunity to tell you or kiss you because everyone else kept interrupting, and-” Ben just reached over, cupped the back of Dustin’s neck, and shut him up with another long kiss. When they broke apart this time, Dustin was wide eyed and blushing madly, staring at Ben.

“Uh…”

“I guess I’m gonna have to say that’s your answer.” Ben settled back against the couch, continuing the movie like nothing happened.

But when Dustin hesitantly snuggled back against him, Ben slid an arm around the younger singer’s shoulders, squeezing them lightly.

“Hey Dustin?”

“Yeah?”

“I like you too.”


End file.
